Post-optimism: Chants of Sennaar, Norco and the Problem of Optimism in Environmental and Ecogames Gamestudies

Abstract

Ecogame scholarship, the subdiscipline of videogame studies concerned with environment, has a shortcoming. I establish how ecogames changed from a deeply critical to a problematically optimistic field. Reflecting on recent developments I suggest ecogames must take a stance against optimistic climate rhetoric. I analyse two games: Chants of Sennaar (Moya and Panuel 2023) and Norco (Yuts and Gray 2022) arguing they highlight the potential and pitfalls of games as environmental texts. Chants of Sennaar suggests ways of living after climate catastrophe but promises a utopia. Norco, comparatively, makes no promises but risks inaction. Together they show that the games industry and game studies cannot just promise brighter futures but that an attitudinal shift is required. Ecogames and ecogames criticism should not operate under the assumption that climate problems can be solved but must look beyond unrealistic optimism, helping fellow climate survivors by rejecting desires for ideal lives, embracing instead a desire for least bad outcomes.